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When the pictures started coming in, nervous anticipation turned to celebration.
(NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Awaiting Curiosity’s Fate

As the rover rocketed down to the Martian surface, the team at JPL could only wait and hope.

By
Bruce Lieberman

airspacemag.com
August 5, 2012

It’s 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 5 in Pasadena, California, and the evening is finally offering some relief after a scorching day. People are beginning to flood the campus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where in three hours the world will learn the fate of the newest Mars rover, Curiosity.

Adam Steltzner of the Entry, Descent and Landing team reacts to the new pictures coming in....
(NASA/Bill Ingalls)

...and hugs another member of the team.
(NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Curiosity was a trending topic on Twitter Sunday night, along with Usain Bolt.
(Twitter)

The touchdown was almost exactly on target, and by luck the first images appeared to be aimed at the rim of Gale Crater (the outer circle) in one direction, and Mt. Sharp in the other.
(NASA/JPL)

Curiosity's first thumbnail images, from its small "hazcam" hazard cameras, were splotched with dust from the landing. Scientists thought the bright area at the center top of the frame may be the slope of nearby Mt. Sharp.
(NASA/JPL)

Better images showed that it was indeed Mt. Sharp. A dark dune field lies between the rover and the base of the mountain, which is about seven miles away.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Another tantalizing early view, facing north toward the rim of Gale Crater, which is about 12-15 miles away. The image was taken on the first day after landing by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) onboard Curiosity. A removable transparent dust cover was still on the camera, so future pictures will be much improved.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems)

The Mars-orbiting HiRISE spacecraft captured this spectacular shot of Curiosity descending to the surface on its parachute. Said HiRISE scientist Sarah Milkovich, “If HiRISE took the image one second before or one second after, we probably would be looking at an empty Martian landscape.”
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

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Nearby, where redwood tables and chairs are clustered around a large pool and fountain, JPL scientists and engineers chat in small groups, some talking with reporters. At a glance the scene is casual, even celebratory – like an outdoor cocktail party. A friendly but tense cocktail party.

Rivellini, like others on the science team, says he feels confident of success. But he also says he is resigned to whatever happens. “There’s nothing we can do at this point,” Rivellini says. “It’s nerve-wracking.”

Ten years of design work, mechanical tests, white board sessions, computer simulations, prototype tests in the desert, and intensive and endless performance reviews – all of this is riding on a spacecraft now speeding toward the Martian atmosphere. If all goes according to plan, Curiosity’s seven-minute descent, culminating in a cable drop from a rocket-powered sky crane, will kick off the most ambitious mission yet in our exploration of Mars.

John Essmiller, a systems engineer for guidance, navigation and control, is focused on how the onboard radar will perform in the final moments of the descent. Determining Curiosity’s altitude and speed relative to the Martian surface will be critical for timing the rocket firings.

“I think for me, getting that solution relative to the ground will be a big relief,” he says.

More than an hour from the scheduled landing, a crowd has gathered outside the newsroom at JPL, and there’s the sound of frequent laughter. Actor Seth Green holds court, cracking jokes. He is one of numerous celebrities invited to JPL, including musician will.i.am, Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek and others. Someone says Mars is now visible in the sky and the International Space Station is passing overhead. The crowd spills outside, and a few people hold their iPads and iPhones up to the sky, star maps glowing in the dark.

The actual landing sequence passes dizzyingly fast. At 10:06 p.m. in California, mission control receives word that Mars Odyssey, pre-positioned in Martian orbit, will be in the right orientation to track Curiosity’s landing as it happens – which had not been guaranteed.